Well, it has happened once more. For those who think that this writer knows everything about Broome County or has believed my bloviating about one topic or another – you would be wrong. A listener to my segment on the Binghamton Now show on WNBF radio with Bob Joseph called in with a memory and story.
Bob and I had been talking about the first days of WNBF-TV on the air in 1949, and how a youthful Bill Parker had tried to cover a huge fire across the street from the Arlington Hotel where the television and the radio station were in the basement level of that building. The fire was in the Moon Block – a four-story commercial and residential building at the corner of Lewis and Chenango Streets in Binghamton.
The heat from the fire was so great that they were worried it would melt the rubber from the cable of the very heavy television cameras they attempted to take up to the roof of the hotel. The fire destroyed the Binghamton landmark, and the lot was cleared. I had assumed that it remained a parking lot to become part of the Hertz rental facility that now exists at that location.
Our caller asked if I remembered the Arrow Diner that was at that location after the Moon Block fire. I did not, but a quick check in the Binghamton Press articles on newspapers.com assured me that once again, I did not know everything about our area’s history. It was and continues to be a learning occasion.
In 1952, a new diner was built to serve the residents of Binghamton. Only a block away from the Queen Elizabeth Diner on Henry Street, the Arrow Diner formally opened on Jan. 7, 1952. It was a gleaming metal diner with modern lines, and a landscaped parking lot for those coming to dine in the new restaurant. The lot could hold up to 35 cars, while the diner could seat up to 50 people at one time.
Even more popular, the Arrow Diner was open seven days a week and 24 hours a day. The owners were Hillard Rosen and Bert Rosenbaum, and the management of the diner and its staff fell to Bob Robinson, a well-known local baker and chef. Throughout the next decade, the Arrow was a staple of that type of dining, with their emphasis on the 75-cent businessman’s lunch.
There were the usual want ads for waitresses, cooks, and other helpers in the diner. In March 1959, it was announced that the Arrow Diner was now under the management of Tom Mantas, with Marty Mohr as the diner’s chef. It was also announced that it was owned by Peter Mitsakos and George Gordon.
By the time of the 1960s, the area was changing. Urban Renewal was about to result in the demolition of the Arlington Hotel, as passenger rail service faded away. In the interval, the diner was robbed at one time, while a fight broke out around the same time. In a moment of irony, the event that cleared that lot of the Moon Block also took the Arrow Diner.
On July 15, 1967, a fire broke out in the diner, starting in the rear of the eatery and spreading throughout the whole diner. At that point, it was fully equipped but had been vacant for several months. The fire was determined to be a major loss to the building and its contents. It was declared a total loss, and the days of serving meals at that location were gone for good. Well, not quite.
Hillard Rozen had regained ownership of the diner and wanted to move the diner off the lot and take it to Alice Street on the east side of the city. The move was approved by the City Council and would have needed the approval of the state’s Transportation Department. They determined that the Alice Street underpass was too low to let the diner pass.
So once again it was hauled back – first to a lot on Henry Street, where a local resident complained, and then back to its original lot a day later.
Finally, in April 1968, the old diner was taken away – only to live in memory.
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Gerald Smith is executive director of the Tioga County Historical Society and a former Broome County historian. Email him at historysmiths@stny.rr.com.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Remembering some good eats at Binghamton’s Arrow Diner | Spanning Time
Reporting by Gerald Smith, Special to the Press & Sun-Bulletin / Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin
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